Johanna's backyard birthday bash!

We had such a great time celebrating our baby girl's 1st birthday! We are very thankful our friends (who are more like family to us) that came to help us celebrate our sweet baby Jo Jo.

Johanna is so much fun. She is learning new things all the time and she brings much joy into our lives. Johanna looks a lot more like her mama than Lily, but we think she has more of her daddy's personality.

Her favorite things to do at the moment: EAT, EAT and EAT!, Play with anything but her toys, Snuggle with her blanket and paci, See her big sister and play with her, Explore by walking along furniture and holding one of our hands, Dancing and clapping to music and Playing peek-a-boo. Johanna says Mama, Dada, Lila (for Lily), Boo, Mo (fore more while she signs it), Na Na (for no) and Ba Ba (for bottle).

Enjoy the slide show below of her birthday bash! Click on the pictures for a better view.

Monday adventures

We have had a very busy (and fun!) summer so far. I just got back from a 7 day cruise to Alaska with my best buddy, Katie, and her mom. John stayed home with the girls so that I could go on a "once in a lifetime" trip. This trip deserves a post of its own. Hope to do that soon! All 3 of my cuties got the flu while I was gone. :-( John did a great job and he truly is one amazing daddy. It was hard to hear they were sick but there was little I could do from the ship ... so I just prayed, prayed, prayed and they did get better. I spent a whole day after I got home sanitizing and cleaning our home so that the germs could be gone. Somehow they still managed to find their way into my body and I got the same 24 hour flu too!
We are doing quite a bit of traveling this summer so we only get a few weeks at home until the next trip. Again, it is me leaving. I have Air National Guard duty (taking a class) down in Salem, Oregon for a week. Thankfully, John and Johanna will join me for the first few days! One of the benefits of being a MSgt and getting my own room. :-) It is so hard to believe I have almost 15 years in the Air Force. I will reenlist for another 6 years in September... which will bring me to 20!
Johanna is going to turn 1 next week!! I have no idea how that happened. She is a beautiful baby and such a joy and blessing to our family. We are planning her celebration and excited for an outside party since she has a summer birthday.
Mondays are our family days. We usually go on some adventure... there is so much to explore here in the Pacific Northwest. The slide show that follows is from our adventure today. We went to a park on Puget Sound and enjoyed a picnic lunch, playtime at the park, time on the beach and we found 3 geocaches. FUN. We love these times together as a family. Enjoy!

Disney World

During the first week of May, Nichole, Lily and I flew to Disney World. There we met Nichole's parents, brother's family and sister's family for a fun-filled week in the sun and amusement parks. There were fourteen of us from age 4 to age 65. You might be thinking, "What did Johanna do?" She stayed with a wonderful family from our church and we are very thankful for them.
The first full day was a Sunday and we hung out at the rental house, swam in the pool and had a great steak and shrimp meal.
On Monday we woke up bright and early and headed to The Magic Kingdom. Dale's favorite ride is Pirates of the Caribbean and he really wanted all of us to go on that ride so we marched in and enjoyed the cruise through pirateville. That night we stayed late at the park to view the electric parade and fireworks show.
On Tuesday we headed to Animal Kingdom. Lily's favorite ride was here, River Rapids, where she and Nichole got totally soaked and she had to walk like a penguin.
On Wednesday we went to Hollywood Studios and this park was highlighted by meeting characters, Minnie, Piglet, Chip n Dale and Handy Manny. We also really liked the Toy Story ride.
On Thursday we went back to Magic Kingdom and took pictures with three princesses. Lily was very excited. Part way through the day we headed to Epcot and enjoyed the rides and countries. I even found a Wunderbar in Canada. On Thursday night we relaxed at the house and Lily loved swimming in the pool.
It was a busy, hot, fun, exciting, enjoyable week. We had a great time making memories and experiencing Disney World.

Click on the slideshow for a more in depth look at the fun.

Life in pictures

Here are some pictures of our family from the last few months. Click on the slideshow for a more in depth look. Enjoy!

We are a family of 4!

It has been a long, long time since I have come here to post. I am not sure if anyone is still following our blog but we are thinking of trying it again so our family and friends far away can have glimpses of our life in Washington. Just because I am curious, please leave a comment if you read this.
I hope to update with pictures, videos and journal entries about our life here in Washington. Stay tuned...